Viacom18 warns against copying ‘Guthi’ character from its popular ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’ show

Viacom18 has issued a public notice warning anybody from copying the popular character “Guthi” associated with Colors’ top-rated show ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’. 

The buzz is that actor Sunil Grover, who played the role of Guthi, is partnering with another artist for a similar show on a rival channel. Grover left the show early this month. 

Grover could not be reached till the filing of this report. Viacom18′s notice, published as an ad in the newspapers today, said that it “has sole, exclusive, absolute and unlimited ownership rights of all the intellectual Property rights of the Artist associated with the programme, including the rights in the format of the programme”. 

Media analysts say it is only natural for Viacom18 to act the way it did. Hindi general entertainment channels have been finding it hard to crack the comedy genre. Only SAB runs as a successful comedy-centric channel. 

Viacom18 said it has come to its notice that “a certain artist and a stand-up comedian” associated with the programme, ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ aired on Colors, is “planning to launch and/or be associated with other show wherein the said artist is likely to perform the character of Guthi or use mannerism or characteristic features of Guthi or any other character played by the artist in the said programme”. 

It has warned anybody from engaging in any activity, which may infringe with the exclusive rights of Viacom18, without any prior permission. 

From a legal standpoint, any channel or person cannot start a similar show with a similar character. “One cannot use the name of the same character as it is owned and defined by the producers of the IP rights. Similarly, the dialogues, script and the entry and exit of the character cannot be copied. So if any actor is going to work in any other show, the makers have to be very careful of that. Having said that, it doesn’t stop a person from dressing up like a woman and playing any role. Any artist can go and work in any show on any channel,” a media lawyer with expertise in intellectual property clarified. 

‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ is the top rated non-fiction show running on Hindi general entertainment channels. In the week ended 9 November, the show clocked television viewership of 7.36 million (TVM) or a 3.58 TVR. It accounted for 10.58 GRPs for the channel.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/programme-news/item/3631-viacom18-warns-against-copying-%E2%80%98guthi%E2%80%99-character-from-its-popular-%E2%80%98comedy-nights-with-kapil%E2%80%99-show.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/programme-news/item/3631-viacom18-warns-against-copying-%E2%80%98guthi%E2%80%99-character-from-its-popular-%E2%80%98comedy-nights-with-kapil%E2%80%99-show.html